Kano State

By Nusaiba Ibrahim Na’abba

It is indeed sickening and quite unfortunate to have been part of the Nigerians alive to witness the gruesome killing of Harira and her children and two others in Anambra State. We haven’t even been relieved of tensions that arose from the derogatory remarks on our beloved Rasul SAW. And amid these tensions, another heartless fellow has murdered his niece in Kano – a similar event as Hanifa’s.

Undoubtedly, these seven years since the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari kicked off have been the most unprecedented for many Nigerians. Stressful periods have made killings assume a state of normalcy, especially in the Northern part of the country, and many horrendous activities now don’t even get into the spotlight.

While we continue to deal with post traumas after witnessing more than enough horrifying stories of senseless murders and killings of innocent lives, we continue to fiercely battle financial uncertainties from different angles, coming in distinct shapes and sizes. There has never been a time when we have found ourselves at risk of losing our earnings. From a series of unfounded mobile messages to mysterious calls and emails from strangers, we have been bombarded with multiple ‘Yahoo! or 419’ daily. We think one step to securing our earnings while these ‘intellectuals’ are already a hundred miles ahead. Such is the cruel world we live in a while our leaders wander in a desultory fashion.

To begin with, are the ‘Yahoo intellectuals’. In this context, they have proven beyond any iota of doubt that they are efficient to prosper and have almost always never missed their targets by successfully outsmarting technologies our private financial institutions, alias banks, breaching secured accounts of innocent people in order thieve their hard-earned money – only God knows the kind of cumbersome efforts put in to get them. They are perfectly immune to any countermeasure provided by these banks. Only a few of them are being traced.

The height of this situation will not puzzle you until you hear a bank staff declaring that it is not the bank’s fault but ‘yours’ – the customers’ fault – who exposed your bank details to a ‘Yahoo Pro’ unknowingly. Ideally, banks are supposed to be substitutes for traditional means of saving assets, but the current situation shows that they’re becoming dangerous institutions. Filing a complaint is intensely laborious as your insignificant earnings do not matter so much to the banks. You’d spend hours in a queue to face your worst fear – they can do nothing to help you.

In a recent report published by FJI Nigeria, a student’s $2000 was stuck and only released after their report. Similarly, just on May 8, 2022, the same FJI Nigeria published how a nurse based in Ogun State lost her N95,000 after her ATM card got stuck in the ATM and after her communication with one of the GT bank’s staff. Millions of peoples’ earnings have continued to slip away through untraceable means as banks claim or through multiple deductions from the banks. In some southern states, you could be robbed with a gun when withdrawing cash from an ATM and others adopt POS machines for these fraudulent activities.

There is also another set of dubious humans that use religious covers to decorate their Yahoo strategies. For example, you’d receive calls from unknown fellows claiming to be in good spirits, giving references from the Holy Qur’an and directing you to a strange place where they want you to keep the money for them, and they help you in return. Sounds hilarious, though, but it still happens. Another way they opt for is by sending random text messages about a critical condition of their family member, and they’d threaten you to send a stipulated amount to them or fear the unthinkable happening to you.

Let me highlight that the current wave of rancorous political exchanges in the primary elections is also enshrouded by financial insecurity. We have all vividly seen the disparity in the offers presented to ‘delegates’; it all boils down to ‘money’. Of course, it unveils how deep-seated corruption is in our country, but it also paves the way for us to see that not only the ruled are financially unstable. As the delegates go for the highest bidder, so do the aspirants try to bid the highest amount or withdraw from the race and embrace the likely winner for basically financial and political advantages. For the aspirants, some are very calculative to either invest where they’ll win or save what they’ve pocketed.

I wouldn’t do justice to this discourse without reiterating the kidnap for ransom mishap that continues to flourish without any sign of slowing down. The ‘business’ has now reached a stage of maturity such that Nigerians are challenged to save for unwary expectations indirectly. You may not be directly involved, but your support would be needed when an outrageous amount of money is demanded from a person you know.

The dangerous convergence of economic hardship, lack of political will, and financial insecurity has placed Nigerians grievously. The damage done to widows, orphans, families, workers and students is unimaginable. Assets aren’t safe at home and are neither safe at the banks. And with the continuous devaluation of the Nigerian currency, the means of our sustenance has become an uneasy endeavour.

For now, the government is overwhelmed with so much politicking – divergences, convergences and calculations are taking a toll on virtually everything. So, since the major financial institutions that deal with the exchange of money are private, and the government has proven its incompetency to bring solace to our impediments being at the receiving end, we can offer solid suggestions on how best we can be treated with dignity by these banks.

Securing our dignity and finance at this point means banks must make a move to create codes that we can use to halt the operation of our accounts when necessary. It’s distressing how they have created codes for transfers and recharge card purchases without prioritising securing our accounts. This can be a gigantic step to counter our susceptibility to fraudsters as they are fully aware that their malicious intentions can only be crushed when the damage is done.

Then, it would be worthwhile for the government to equip its legal system to challenge these private financial institutions to ensure sanity in their operations. I firmly believe they aren’t above the law, and nobody is.

Nusaiba Ibrahim Na’abba is a master’s student from the Department of Mass Communication, BUK. She is a freelance writer and researcher. She can be reached via nusaibaibrahim66@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

The level of dilapidation in Sir Muhammadu Sunusi Specialist Hospital, Yankaba, Kano, has graduated something not less monstrous.

Despite the Kano State Government’s claim that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s second tenure would pay more attention to health and education, patients in the hospital have recounted their harrowing tales of how they live miserably without water and light.

Our reporter visited the hospital. He met some patients in dire situations, fighting excessive heat with their hand fans, which has thrown many of them into a dilemma.

The Daily Reality learned that all the taps in the hospital are not working, except one borehole, which the patients said works for less than one hour every day.

Recounting their experiences, some patient sitters complained that they used sachet water, alias pure water, to bathe, flush toilets, make ablutions and wash their dishes. 

They also complained about the lack of electricity, which they said was responsible for many problems in the hospital. 

A patient, who pleaded anonymity, complained that he spent days without bathing because almost all the sources of water in the hospital were dead.,

He said, “I spend days without bathing because there is no water. Sometimes our brothers go outside the hospital and call a water vendor (“dan ga–ruwa“).

“Also, after all these difficulties, we slept in the dark without light at night. Mosquitoes exploit the opportunity to disturb our nights. The situation is just terrible.” 

Also, a patient sitter, Mukhtar Muhammad (not real name), stated that they really faced difficulties mainly at night.

He said, “There is neither electricity nor water in the hospital. Thus we live in the heat with mosquitos singing and biting our patients and us.

“I have wanted to use water since yesterday. But there is no water in the tap. So I had to go outside in search of a water vendor.”

No water to wash new-born babies 

Aishatu Isma’il decried that it was indeed a slap on the face for a big hospital like Sir Sunusi to allow this problem to be exacerbated.

“How can you imagine the state of a hospital without water or electricity? You would have shaded tears if you see women as they gave birth; there would be no water to clean the mother or her baby,” she bitterly said.

A group of four women, who happened to be patient sitters of their relatives, confided in our reporter that they used sachets water for there was no water in the hospital. 

They added that there was no water in the hospital to even flush the toilets after being used.

They added that the condition of the hospital’s pharmacy too was deplorable as one would only get one or two medicine out of the five or six he was looking for. 

The patients also urged the Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to set up a committee to investigate the matter.

Responding, the Managing Director of the hospital, Dr Abdussalam Usman Danjaji, told our reporter that all preparations to address the issues were in top gear.

Danjaji said, “Due to the electricity problem, the diesel provided to us by the government was never enough to use for thirty days.

“And we don’t want to add additional charges to what people are paying. If we do that, we can provide people with light, only that many people cannot afford to settle their bills,” he added.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

An online media platform, Nigeria Health Watch, has organised a workshop on promoting media adoption on Solutions Journalism (SOJO) in Kano state.

The one-day workshop titled “Integrating Solutions Journalism Practices in Media Production in Kano State” took place Saturday, May 28, 2022, at the GearHub, 45 Lamido Crescent, Nassarawa GRA, in the state.

The intent of the workshop was said to equip participants with the knowledge, skills, and networks they would need to consciously discover and report stories about people’s responses to social issues in their news bulletins and other forms of reporting.

However, solutions journalism is understood to mean investigating and explaining how people try to solve widely shared problems.

The idea was reportedly aimed at adding rigorous coverage of solutions rather than just reporting problems as “responses to problems are also newsworthy”.

Speaking at the event, the convener, Misbahu El-Hamza, stated that there was a need for journalists to embrace solutions journalism (SOJO) instead of the normal way of just reporting issues.

However, El-Hamza lamented that many people resisted patronising news to escape heartbreaking reports that ended in scaring people.

The participants that graced the event included journalists from various media organisations from Kano State.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Former media aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, has rejected the outcome of the primary election, which was conducted on Saturday. 

In a press statement on Sunday, May 28, 2022, Ahmad gave reasons for denouncing the outcome. 

According to him, the electoral process was marred with irregularities that threatened the election’s credibility.

He alleged that delegates, who were mostly his supporters, were denied entrance to the election venue and consequently could not cast their votes. 

“To the best of my knowledge, election at the primaries stage requires delegates to cast their votes, and a winner emerges with the majority votes. It, therefore, implies that there could not have been any voting process that occurred considering majority of the delegates were neither allowed to vote nor even granted access to the venue.” He stated.

Ahmad also said he was denied entrance to the voting area, which almost culminated in violence.

“On my arrival to the venue as an aspirant too, I was denied access to the voting area. My supporters who were around the premises for the primaries resisted the unjust treatment I was given and attempted insisting on my entrance into the voting area.” He said. 

Ahmad contested for the APC’s ticket to represent the people of Gaya/Ajingi/Albasu Federal Constituency and lost to the incumbent lawmaker, Mahmud Gaya, in the controversial election.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

President Muhammadu Buhari’s former media aide, Bashir Ahmad, has disclosed why he had to leave the venue of the ruling party’s primary election.

According to him, he left the venue because of the security of the majority of delegates, which was being compromised by the presence of thugs. 

Ahmad stated this on his verified Facebook account on Friday, May 27, 2022. 

“As an aspirant, I left the venue of [the] primary election for Gaya, Ajingi and Albasu Federal Constituency because of the security of our majority delegates, if want to compete with the best, thugs shouldn’t be part of any election. A dakace mu [Wait for us]! “He posted

Ahmad had earlier resigned from the president’s media team to vie for the position of member in the Green Chamber, the country’s House of Representatives.

As at the time of fielding this report, the election result has not been announced.

By Lawan Bukar Maigana 

To achieve the relative peace we crave, we must respect each other’s religion and be wary of using nasty words on our “sacred belongings.” However, I wholeheartedly condemn jungle justice, burning people, and people taking laws into their hands. That is un-Islamic. Islam is organized religion. We should follow due process when it comes to issues that require capital punishment. 

For a fact, I know that any negative thing in words or drawing against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will not be tolerated or pardoned by any truly practising Muslims across the globe. However, Muslims should be wary of taking laws into our hands. Some people say that the justice system in Nigeria does not do the right thing at the right time. They mainly delay judgment. 

Some people gave the example of Mubarak Bala – an atheist from Kano – who was sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to blasphemous charges against him. They said that his punishment was the death penalty, but he was sentenced to 24 years in jail, which was unjust. I told them that that should not be an excuse for them to take laws into their hands because Islam does not encourage doing that, no matter how bad our systems are. 

In the wake of Deborah’s killing by a mob, a lady named Naomi Goni was reported to the police and the Borno State Government over a blasphemous she made on Facebook. The Borno State Government aptly did the needful to avoid jungle justice on her, as in Sokoto. Jungle justice and people taking laws into their hands are un-Islamic. Everyone should respect each other’s religion for the sake of peace. We shouldn’t be influenced by press freedom or any similar freedoms to do anything that can lead to the loss of lives and properties across the country.

On May 16th, I read news published by the Punch newspaper that a Lagos engineer was killed and burnt on the road by motorcycle operators because of N100. This is condemnable and should not be accepted by any reasonable government. It is high time the Nigerian government came up with strict laws on burning people no matter what they did. 

These guys gruesomely burnt the engineer because of N100. You can’t count how many people were killed and burnt because of minor things like stealing food, goat, little money, and shoes, among others, in the South. And they happily do it. No northerner will kill anyone because of any of the things mentioned above. Yet, the northerners are called murderers. Really! Are they?

Although I am not an Islamic scholar, I know that Allah has warned and forbidden believers from punishing people with fire. Only Him does that. Insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is unacceptable and unpardonable even in a Muslim minority state or country, let alone a place like Sokoto, which is primarily the root of Islam in the North. Desisting from insulting the prophet will not cost you anything. Why can’t we live in peace? 

As Muslims, we should act with knowledge in whatever we do. Allah has asked us to know Him before we worship Him. We can’t worship Him if we don’t know Him. We should respect each other’s religion no matter what happens because none of us will take it lightly when any of us transgresses. I fear that this issue should not be metamorphosed into religious conflicts because people’s comments on the incident are scary and dangerous. 

One’s faith in Islam will not be complete until he believes and loves Jesus – Isa (AS). That is why you won’t see Muslims insulting him. Honestly, some of the comments made by some moderate Muslims and Christians are unjustifiable because such things have been happening in the South/East in the open, and no Muslim has ever attributed them to Christianity because we know what Christianity is. 

Why can’t they do the same justice as Muslims do for Christianity when things go wrong in the South? Until we start telling ourselves the truth and live by it, respect each other’s religion and censor our utterances, we will continue to get things wrong. Then, we can live together without crossing each other’s red lines. 

It is hypocritical to condemn and label the Muslims as murderers because of what happened in Sokoto while you keep mute on the killings thriving in the South and other places. All lives are sacred, and no religion has asked its followers to kill people for no reason, and no religion has asked its followers to insult or mock someone’s faith. This has to be understood by all of us. 

The only way to end this kind of incident is through the establishment of laws on blasphemy with strict punishment for whoever is found wanting. In addition, the state governors should enact laws that will protect each other’s religion in the country to avoid jungle justice, burning people, and preventing people from taking laws into their hands.

The law should clearly state that whoever insults or uses nasty words on prophets or religion publicly will be decisively dealt with. The person should blame themselves for whatever punishment is meted at them. I think this will put an end to blasphemy, which will save lives and properties in the country. 

Lawan Bukar Maigana is a writer. He can be reached at lawanbukarmaigana@gmail.com. 

By Uzair Adam Imam 

Another political crisis is rocking the Kano chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) as the endorsed deputy governorship candidate, Murtala Sule Garo, is reportedly mulling over defection to the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje endorsed Garo to pair with the current deputy governor, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, as governor in the 2023 gubernatorial election.

However, Garo was said to have felt slighted following a peace parley between Governor Ganduje and his political arch-enemy, Senator Barau Jibrin.

Recall that Ganduje had reconciled with Barau and agreed to step down for him for the Kano North senatorial ticket after the senator abandoned his gubernatorial ambition. 

According to a source who preferred not to be named, Garo plans to discuss the issue with his associates for a final decision.

He said, “he is planning to meet with his associates and make [a] concrete decision, but he is still very sad about the development (Barau back in the fold), but he has not defected or abandoned the ticket,” one source, who asked not to be named, said.

By Ibrahim Nasidi Saal

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano on Tuesday granted an order of interim injunction restraining the Shehu Sagagi-led executives of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kano from exercising any power pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.

Mr Sagagi is allegedly loyal to a former governor of Kano State and national leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

The case was filed before Justice A.M. Bichi by one Bello Bichi against INEC, PDP and 40 others.

The order is as follows:

 “That in order not to create a serious power vacuum In the party at the State level and to prevent any anarchy which could result from such a vacuum, an order of interim injunction is granted restraining the 3″‘ to 42nd Defendants from parading or continuing to parade themselves as the Party Executives of the PDP in Kano State, from exercising any power pursuant thereto, or doing anything in that purported capacity pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice herewith filed, which is fixed for hearing on the 24th day of May, 2022.

“That an order for leave is granted allowing the substituted service of the Court Order and the originating and other subsequent processes on the 3rd to 42nd Defendants by leaving same with or at the office of the 25th Defendant, Mr. I. Wangida, Esq.”

The daily Reality reports that on April 28, another court of concurrent jurisdiction, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had reinstated the Shehu Sagagi-led state and 44 local governments’ executives of PDP, pending the determination of the substantive case before it.

Ruling on the matter, Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo granted all the prayers of the Sagagi-led executives and warned the PDP national leadership against taking any action that would undermine them.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The Kano State Government has clarified the fake news on explosion. An explosion rocked Kano at the early hours of Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

It was earlier reported that it was a bomb blast on many social media platforms. However, the State Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, has dismissed the erroneous claim.

On the other hand, the Kano State’s Police Commissioner, Sama’ila Shuaibu Dikko, said it was a gas explosion.

“It was a gas explosion. There was a welder around the area and his gas cylinder exploded just very close to a private school… we have recovered four casualties, including the welder and a female. No child was affected,” Dikko told journalists after the incident.

While cautioning people to desist from sharing unsubstantiated stories, the Commissioner added that further investigations were underway.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

An official of Goron Dutse Correctional Centre in Kano, who is yet to be identified, has gunned down a trader for refusing to give him a stick of cigarette. This development shocked people around. 

The Daily Reality gathered that the bullet fired at the trader went through his stomach and later hit another person on the leg.

The trader was confirmed dead after reaching the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, where the two victims were rushed to. 

It was gathered that there had been a misunderstanding between the two persons after the trader refused to sell the cigarette to the officer; which made him angry. 

According to a witness who spoke to the Daily Trust, “We can’t really say, but, it seemed like the officer was owing the trader and this time around, he refused to sell to him, which triggered his response as he suddenly shot him.”

Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, the Kano Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the incident. 

He added that the police were still trying to ascertain the identity of the slain trader.